July 20, 2010

July 20, 2010

it's been over a month now, and i'm still not even halfway done with my time here at the mtc. its crazy how fast time goes, but i still want it to go faster. the older district is leaving this week, some are already gone. i havent really gotten the itch to leave until now. but i know its good i'm here, i need this badly. but i'm so excited its ridiculous. oh, and sorry mom, you totally did write me, i looked it up, it just seemed like much more than a week. i apologize. and by the way, after a couple of weeks, i've decided i actually do like packages. i've finally run out of food from the first one you sent. and a big shout out to the serafine family, especially allison and brad, for writing me letters this week, you have honored your family big time. who will win in this next week's competition?

so i can't really remember what i wrote last week, or the week before, so hopefully i don't repeat myself too much in these things. thanks so much, dad, for the pictures! they were way cool, i didn't know i could get them. and nicole, i don't know if i can send pictures over the internet, but i'm pretty sure i cant. i'm going to try and print some pictures out and send them home, so maybe you can see a picture of a picture somehow? ya ne znayu. congrats to matt and stacy for their pregnancy! i guess just stacy. i'm not sure if they read this, so if they don't, send my congrats somehow. and congrats uncle mike for getting the big job, you'll do great.

anna: thanks for being the best writer of the family, though i must say that i'm not at the mtv, i'm at the MTC. just so you know.
nate, loved the pictures of you, you look like you are playing hard, have fun. 
alex, heard you are doing better, that's good, and got to go to girls camp. thats too bad, my experience with girls camp was scary. it's unfortunate you had to go through that.
scott, you should probably write me, so i can make a witty comment through email about your life. nicole, you are a good writer, almost as good as anna. thanks for all the letters. and when i say nicole, i of course also mean garrett.

so, whats new, whats new. not much, actually. oh, one thing: every thursday we clean our classroom, and then get judged on how poorly or successfully we cleaned. our judge was this crazy lady, who left a note the first week that said "it was so dusty in here i sneezed" or something like that. the next week we tried really hard, but left a bit of dust on the windowsill, and she failed us. so then we tried really hard, and we got a note that said "spaciba! your mothers would be proud." we feel that we have done our part and no longer need to clean the room. the gym is closed for the remainder of my stay here, which stinks, stinks real bad. they are installing new bleachers or something. also it means that our firesides will now be broadcast on tv's around campus, so that also stinks. but we mostly just play soccer, so thats not too bad. i think the temple opens next week, so hopefully next tuesday we will get to go. though i don't know how i'm going to get anything done on p-days with 2 fewer hours. i guess i'll have to stop writing any letters.

oh, so every tuesday we have a fireside, then afterwards we talk about the fireside for an hour (with a member of the branch president, so everyone is trying to be very impressive). last week, we were talking about how a single missionary can baptize one dude, and then he has a family, and so on. normal missionary talk, everyone making a big deal out of it. elder palmer (he's in my district) chimed in with this wisdom: "there is a positive correllation between knowledge of exponential functions and desire to share the gospel". he is a funny guy. hmmm, i cant really remember much that has happened. it's all very blurry.

oh, the trc went really well last week. it was our last time teaching in english, and i think we did the best we have ever done. we totally focused on the girl, tried to resolve her concern, kept her part of the conversation. it was cool, we weren't perfect, but we saw improvement. and the russian was very good, of course i did most of the talking. tomorrow we teach the first lesson in russian. ha! we have been practicing and stuff, it is fun actually. i mean, i cant say very much, but i am surprised at how much i can talk around if i need to. i can get pretty much the whole message across. very simply, slowly, lots of crazy grammar mistakes, but who cares, i'm teaching a gospel lesson understandably in russian. it is just nice to see that my hard work is making a difference. i can pretty much understand what is going on, teach doctrines, just all from memory. it's so nice to see hard work pay off.

so i was thinking, i kinda want to know what zach is saying in his letters. maybe you could coordinate with his mom and get his emails, and dear elder them to me? if it's not too much trouble. i see him all the time, but we never have time to sit and chat or whatever. same with eric's letters, actually, i want  to know what he is up to lately.
hm, i'm really digging the book of mormon. i'm like halfway through alma, and i've never enjoyed it so much. i've never read it this fast, like all in a row, so i'm putting everything into context that i've never been able to do, and i love it. we talk about the book of mormon all the time here. like on sunday we had a whole lesson on it, and how it is such an amazing missionary tool. it's so true. every day i get all excited about reading it, i know its so nerdy and missionarie of me, but its true, i love it.

um, one minute left, and i've run out of things to say. ya znayu shto bog vastanavil svayo evangeleye. eta istina! i love you all! stay strong !

love,
elder elderek brimley